>> i contends the fiscal cliff will come to an agreement. it will be temporary in nature, kind of a year type of plan. i think the market has digested a bit that tax rates will go up. it's just a matter of how much spending are we going to cut to make this a market between the democrats and republicans. >> does monetary policy hurt or help the banks? keeping rates as low as they are, it's tough to make a buck the traditional way of lending and spending, right? >> i'm going to be a two-armed economist because i can't said on the other hand. there's two things that are very important. first of all, credit in commercial real estate is phenomenal. cap rates are really low. so the fact that rates are as low as they are has allowed commercial real estate not to fall into the abyss. if commercial real estate had to refi at high rates, we would have had another problem. the other problem is the fact margins are getting squeezed at these banks. credit quality is better. >> that's where the money comes from. >> yeah, fees. by the way, you can eat thes